We arrive in Qaqortoq, Greenland, at 8am to a beautiful blue sky, the first we've seen in many weeks. A few icebergs are floating in the harbor, nothing huge but they're still interesting. The last time we saw them was in Alaska in 2011. We're here until 4:30pm and the cruise director suggests to everyone that we take our time to get ashore. "Avoid the initial rush", he says. We have a leisurely breakfast, then around 9:30 we report to the theater to get our tender tickets. Unfortunately, there's a long wait, about 30 minutes, to get aboard a tender going to town. We wait, listening to the numbers as they call them out, slowly working their way toward #5. Finally we hear, "Blue 5", and off we go. The ride through the harbor to the dock in Qaqortoq is just a few minutes. In fact, it takes longer to load and unload the hundred or so passengers to and from the tender than the trip itself.

Qaqortoq, the third largest town in Greenland, with a population of 3100 is often described as the most beautiful town in Greenland and has a picturesque setting of the fjord of Qaqortoq. The town is separated into two parts by a creek from Tasersuaq Lake. Most of the colorful houses have ”million dollar views”, with a fantastic view over the fjord. They're not, however, million dollar homes. Many have small Arctic gardens containing flowers, small trees and vegetable gardens. We take a picture of the town fountain, at one time the only fountain in Greenland. It's certainly not that impressive but it's the town's only fountain and everyone else is photographing it. To add interest, I put Karen next to it  

Had we been here earlier we could have observed the daily life of the hunters in the center of Qaqortoq where, at the local fish market, the daily catch is sold. We hear the natives were chopping up whale blubber, offering free samples. Mmmm. While not wishing to chow down on whale blubber and seal oil, I would like to have tasted it and participated in all the action since it appears to be the only action in this town. So much for staying on the ship and waiting.

After arriving in town, we find that there's not much to do. We visit the local grocery store which seems well stocked. There are people at tables outside selling their wares. I take some pictures but Karen's leg is bothering her so we cut the walking short. She had a procedure done on the veins in her left leg but it's her right leg that's sore. She has to wait for a few months to do the other leg and it appears the procedure does seem to help her. We buy a t-shirt at the only shop in town and then get in line for the tender returning to the ship.

Arriving in our stateroom at 1pm, I note that there's fish and chips poolside until 1pm. This sounds good but is it too late? We arrive and get in line. They close the line a few minutes later but we get our fish. It's much better than the $50 fish & chips we got in Bergen and it's free. With the remainder of the afternoon at our disposal, I take the time to load some pictures onto the IPad and send three blogs written days ago out over the Internet. They eat up 20 minutes of my precious WiFi time, leaving me 160 minutes left. Looks like I won't get them all out before our trip ends, at least not with pictures. This Internet is so slow. 

We have dinner at 6pm with two ladies from Florida. Everyone has spaghetti with meat balls except for me, I have beef tenderloin. We finish dinner in plenty of time to get to the show tonight, a "Four Seasons" tribute group. While they're better than some of the other acts we've seen aboard the Rotterdam, they don't compare to the harmony of the Alleycats that were on the Amsterdam last year. Returning to the room, I check Facebook and see that Milan has already posted pictures from our blog I submitted today. Unbelievable.

Tomorrow is our last stop in Greenland, Nanortalik.